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Amsterdam Light Festival

Yesterday I visited the Amsterdam Light Festival, a fun annual event here in the Netherlands. In December it’s normally cold, windy and dark here, so what could brighten up the atmosphere better than some beautifully lit international art pieces! This year the festival runs from the 27th of November until January 18th.

During the Light Festival Amsterdam is complemented by light sculptures, projections and installations by contemporary artists. The theme for this year’s festival, ‘A Bright City’, challenged artists to create a tribute to Amsterdam’s city life. The artworks show a unique and modern way of seeing Amsterdam. You can choose to either take the Illuminade walk tour or enjoy a boat ride called Water Colors. Last night I decided to do both!

The boat route, Water Colors, took us past artworks along Amsterdam’s canals. It was lovely to sit in the warm boat with good company and discuss the modern light projections that we saw on the way. This year social media also played a big part of the festival – for example you could tweet about the art pieces and then be featured in them! However, I didn’t get my phone out for social media, as I didn’t really want to have my face reflected on a huge building :’)

The Illumade walk was also lovely, and it took us approximately 40minutes to go through the route. This is a nice way to explore Amsterdam’s more quiet areas. Luckily the light installations are all close to one another, so there’s no need to travel around the city to find them.

So, what was my favorite piece of art? During the Water Colors cruise we spotted a “Ghost Ship”, which has been built by using water jets and reflective lights. The ship was amazingly real, and it took some time for me to realize how it was possible to even build a projection like that.

If you want to hear more about Amsterdam Light Festival, you can visit the pages here.

Anna

A 24-year-old Finnish-English traveler, sharing stories from the rainforests of Borneo to the beaches of Sri Lanka, and from the Sahara desert all the way to the Arctic circle.Current location: The Netherlands